A34 southbound at East Ilsley clear after earlier overturned car

MPs schedule meeting with roads minister over danger road

THE A34 at East Ilsley was affected by a further accident earlier today (Monday) after a car overturned southbound on the carriageway, partially blocking the road.

The road has since been cleared.

Three miles of traffic southbound, and to the Chilton Interchange, were reported around lunchtime today (Monday) .

Several recent fatalities at the black spot in recent months - including an horrific accident last month which claimed the lives of a mother and three children - have seen the formation of an action group by local residents, and in the wake of the incident.

Membership of the A34 action group, launched by East Ilsley resident Alisdair Cunningham, soared to 781 members in just four days.

Newbury MP Richard Benyon, has united with neighbouring MPs Ed Vaizey, whose constituency is Didcot and Wantage and also Nicola Blackwood, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, to tackle the issue.

All three MPs are scheduled to meet roads minister, John Hayes, in coming weeks, to highlight concerns on the accident blackspot, with Mr Benyon in favour of a Highway England study on the A34 to improve safety.

UPDATE 3.10pm

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) sent two ambulances and a paramedic to the scene at 11.48am.

Two people sustained minor injuries, with one taken to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford and the other treated at the scene.

For more on this story pick up a copy of Thursday's Newbury Weekly News

Going north at that junction this morning, I saw what is very typical and could be the source of incidents.
Cars came down the slip road fast and pushed into Lane 2 straight away. This lane was going too slow and the car breaked hard. The cars around were also left without their breaking distance. As the car breaked, if forced the following car to move into lane 1 where cars were still joining from the full length slip road. The cars started breaking, and cars behind on the slip acted as the first car which started the process again. At 6 am traffic wasn't bad. In rush hour it would have fatal.
So in short, slow down and use the full slip road to build up speed to join the carriageway.

Are we talking about the same junction? I go north from East Ilsey, there's what - 20 meters of slip - not much to get up to 50 or 60, which is what the traffic is doing.
I've found the best approach for me is to assume I'm stopping on the slip road, and only, only when on the slip, and I can see a really decent gap, do I change my assumption. Otherwise I stop and wait, a space turns up pretty quickly, in about a minute. It's a lot less stressful than trying to judge some articulated lorries speed from my side mirror.